Around and Around He Goes, and ex-UW assistant Keith Heyward Lands at Cal
Keith Heyward, who didn't stay long in Seattle, is on the move again.
On Monday, the well-traveled and always animated assistant football coach announced via Twitter on Monday that he was leaving as Oregon co-defensive coordinator and it was later determined he would take a similar post at California.
Heyward seemingly is trying to work his way through every Pac-12 member school.
That's five down, seven to go.
It's sort of like Kevin Bacon's "Six Degrees of Separation," where the actor surmises that everyone on the planet is supposedly connected to all others by six people or less.
Heyward always has been popular with his players wherever he goes, practically leaping out of his shoes every game day, as the accompanying photo shows.
For those of who've lost track of his wide-ranging career path, Heyward joined Steve Sarkisian's Husky coaching staff in 2012 as the defensive-backs coach once many of the defensive assistants were purged following an embarrassing 67-56 defeat to Baylor in the Alamo Bowl.
Heyward stayed at the UW for two seasons before joining Sarkisian's sudden exodus to USC, as one of three assistants to leave immediately before the Huskies played and beat BYU 31-16 in the 2013 Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.
A former Oregon State cornerback, Heyward previously coached twice at his alma mater, in 2005-06 and in 2008-11.
He lasted just two seasons at USC because Sarkisian got fired at midseason in 2015 once his alcoholism, much later acknowledged, began to affect his job.
Heyward spent the 2016 season away from the conference, serving as a defensive-backs coach at Louisville, but he was never far from the Pac-12.
He worked hand in hand with assistant secondary coach Cort Dennison, a former Husky linebacker. Dennison is now Louisville's co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
Heyward departed the South to coach four seasons Oregon, where he was co-defensive coordinator.
The Ducks, however, recently hired Tim DeRuyter from Cal to be their main defensive coordinator. With Heyward's responsibilities probably lessening and his upward mobility squelched, he left — in what could be perceived as a straight-up trade for DeRuyter.
Heyward now joins the staff of Justin Wilcox, someone he worked for at the UW and USC.
Six degrees of separation.
Defending against six coming over the top.
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